


our school has seven mysteries (and you're one of them)

by Coordinator



Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Light-hearted fluff, essentially an 80s90s fond friends become family and go on an adventure film, with a healthy dose of lesbeanism not unlike a nougat centre
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:27:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22858495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coordinator/pseuds/Coordinator
Summary: It was another day, endlessly symbolic of summer. Another day of keeping her thoughts at a distance, and keeping her distance from getting too swept away by - anything.She would have discarded it, like any other day, but something else crept into her mind.And it said - what if, just what if...Today was anadventure..?
Relationships: Monika/Sayori (Doki Doki Literature Club!)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	our school has seven mysteries (and you're one of them)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [goomgoomboom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/goomgoomboom/gifts).



"Do I even have to say it, everyone? Can we just, all... Take the rest of the day off?"  
  
Monika sighed into her hands, and maybe everyone stared at even that smell gesture.  
There was something about the way her lips pursed as she exhaled, the little roll of those emerald eyes, her half-smirk that seemed to reach four people at once...  
But today, not even the natural charm of the club president was enough to change the facts.  
  
Fact #1; it was so! _Terribly!_ **_Hot!_**  
  
Sayori felt it in her bones. You weren't supposed to feel _heat_ in your bones, just cold, and rain, and mildew.  
But even with the windows all crept open and sending in reinforcements of cool air and birdsong, the heat had felled their entire platoon!  
  
Her own sigh was hidden, absorbed by her comfy desk.  
And she wanted to go to sleep, but - she was trying to do that a little bit less, as of late.  
No reason why, not really.  
  
Oh, right!  
Fact #2!  
  
The second factoid, ehehehe, was that the day had been kind of a bust.  
  
He'd - her friend had tried to save it with a presentation about _Moby Dick,_ and it actually sounded - really beautiful, and passionate, and seaworthy.  
She wasn't sure if thinking of a book as 'seaworthy' was entirely normal, but it was kind of high praise. Books didn't normally float, after all.  
A book that did, mmn, that was a good - an interesting book.  
  
Just like interesting books, that presentation had been the most _interesting part of the day._  
  
Math had jangled around the back of her mind like a curse, and she didn't have some sort of counter-curse mantra.  
Natsuki had actually _fled_ the club, growling that she wasn't staying around if their hidden fortress was gonna be turned into a smoker grill.  
  
Smoky Natsuki... Natsuki in a smoky jazz bar, singing a sad song about...  
  
WIshing she could scribble the idea down somewhere, Sayori sighed into her desk (for the second time), and tried to pay attention, to...  
Looking up, she was startled to realise that Monika was _gone_ from her usual place at the head of the club.  
Blearily rubbing her eyes, Sayori nearly jumped as she realised that the president had been - watching her snooze, oh, no..!  
  
"Not one for the heat, huh?~"  
  
"It's the country. I'm tough!"  
  
(Sayori said proudly, feeling the opposite of tough.)  
  
"We-eell, is that so... Say!"  
  
Monika said it _loud,_ so that if either he or Yuri were interested, they might pay attention, just a little.  
But the moment was frozen in time; he was _also_ dozing off, and Yuri...  
Yuri looked as if she'd managed to _fall asleep standing up._ Oh, was that amazing or.... Kind of -  
  
"For someone who sweats so much, Yuri seems immune to the heat? Say!~ I wonder if it's a glandular issue?"  
  
Monika said a bit louder, but all that Yuri did was snore, and mumble in her sleep.  
Truly! The entire group had been defeated, by a monster called summer!  
But Sayori's resolved tightened up in her chest, and she wanted to pound the table.  
  
"Don't pick on Yuri, Monika! Ehehe, what were you gonna say, when you said - _say,_ like that..."  
  
"It's nothing much. I was just thinking about _them._ The twelve mysteries of our school!"  
  
"Twelve..."  
  
Hmn.  
It seemed a little bit excessive.  
  
Monika was bathed with golden light from outside, as flowers close enough that you could _just_ see them through the window danced merrily in the breeze.  
Sunlight made her hair seem almost burnished, and her smirk seem even more playful.  
But - she _tried_ to angle for those moments, savoured them.  
And sometimes, Sayori kind of wished...  
  
"Well, are you sure we have that many?"  
  
"Absolutely. And I was just thinking of one in particular... The legend of the storehouse ghoul!"  
  
Something tall, with dark matted-haired stirred, and tried to wake up - but only managed a weak and hay-fever accented sneeze.  
Monika clucked her tongue dramatically, shaking her head in disappointment that only Sayori would get to hear the legend of the storehouse ghoul.  
  
Perhaps she couldn't see, Sayori mused, that she wasn't really listening to the story itself.  
  
Her eyes followed Monika as she strode back and forth, readying words like bricks, the foundation for a story, a tall-tale that only Sayori'd get to hear.  
It would be made-up, a fable, and utterly meaningless. But at the same time...  
Sayori yawned, adjusted her bow, and smiled a bit -  
  
"Heeeeeeeey, ladies! Guess, who... Woah, is everyone asleep?"  
  
"Ohhhh, Natsuki! You came back!"  
  
Despite the fact she didn't mind being the only person to hear these secret moments in time, Sayori was _thrilled_ to see a shocked and small and pink form, braced against the door way and carrying an assortment of lukewarm canned drinks!  
Natsuki was a trooper, a real hero!  
  
"Well, yeah; I thought about how miserable _I_ was in this dumb heat, and then I thought about you guys suffering... It made me feel gross. So, guess who found some supplies!?"  
  
"Natsuki did!"  
  
"Sayori... That's obvious."  
  
"Yep, yep!"  
  
But Sayori's broad smile was how she _felt._  
'Cause it was so easy to show how you felt, and when you felt good, you should show it like it was the very last cloud in a blue sky.  
You never knew when the moment'd pass, did you? And right now...  
  
Natsuki tenderly placed a drink in front of her friend, the slight bubble from his nose stopping mercifully short of the can.  
She placed one in Yuri's pocket, grumbling something imperceptible. And she handed one to Sayori, and Sayori instantly felt the refreshing feeling of how nice cold metal could be.  
Even when the cold metal was only a little chilled, and the beverage inside probably tasted like powdered mugwort and regret... Oh, but mugwort was good for you? Probably?..  
  
Monika took hers delicately; like it was a promise, or a treasure.  
Then she - just chugged it, without a care in the world.  
Even the pres was burning up, huh...  
  
"A-aaaa, this - tastes horrible, Natsuki..!"  
  
"Quit yer bellyaching! Like I had a choice, the machine was out - "  
  
"Oh, _o-ho!_ Maybe it was the work of... The storehouse ghoul!"  
  
"What. What in the name of - what is the storehouse ghoul, Monika. I'm gonna regret this, aren't I..."  
  
Monika _slammed_ her first against the presentation desk she'd circled back around to.  
Her green eyes were on _fire,_ and it wasn't just the heat.  
  
"Okay, ever - you two. Listen up! Long, long ago, this school... Had a secret room, two-hundred feet underground! And underground, in this secret room... There were a bunch of mysterious old tunnels, designed to serve as... A bomb shelter..."  
  
"Ehehe, are you making this up as you go - "  
  
"I would never!~"  
  
Said Monika, almost certainly making it up as she went.  
Taking another swig, she pretended to do so daintily.  
  
"Aaaaa-nd. These tunnel networks once led to the main storehouse, which housed a jealous creature, hidden behind a glass mirror. It ate the souls of, hmrn... Anyone who found it? And they _say_ that instead of defeating it, they just bricked it up down there, where it lurks... Stealing the hearts of innocent maidens!"  
  
"Monika."  
  
Natsuki said, sighing and rubbing at her forehead.  
  
"That was, like, at least three different stories in one. None of which had a clear, mysterious purpose."  
  
"I guess so, haha. But doesn't that only increase their mystery? Hehe! See ya!~"  
  
And with a confident wink that stole time, Monika threw her bag over her shoulder, flashed them a cheeky smile - and left, as suddenly as she always did.  
Natsuki rolled her eyes and crashed into her seat with full force.  
  
"Monika, more like C'monika. Right? Sayori..?"  
  
"..."  
  
People were funny because they never said straight up what they felt. It always had to be all complex and hard to understand!  
And she was too hard to understand if there'd been something else, but...  
Sayori's fingers struck her desk a few times, and she felt her lips purse.  
  
"Ehehe, d'you think there really is some kind of hidden storehouse..."  
  
"Oh, no. _No._ Not you, too..."  
  
"I don't actually believe in that sort of thing. But I - just feel like if she went to so much trouble to talk about it, maybe it meant something to her?.."  
  
Natsuki shrugged.  
  
"Just a way to kill time, probably? Iunno, Monika can be _really_ hard to read sometimes, can't she..."  
  
"Yeah. Which is why, tonight... I'm gonna sneak into the school, and _find that storehouse!_ "  
  
It was at that awful, awe-inspiring moment... That the other two people in the room chose to wake up.  
And everyone was staring at her, fist jabbed into her chest, sweat having rendered her face all blotchy and given it a really gnarly heat-induced-headache.  
Sayori swallowed air, saliva, and the desire to gurgle soundlessly.  
  
"E, ehehe, ehehehe, I guess that sounds a bit stupid, huh..."  
  
"Yeah. Pretty stupid. _Naturally,_ that means I'm in..."  
  
Sighed Natsuki, and Sayori's heart skipped a beat.  
  
"Well... If Natsuki's going, I have to go too, don't I? To keep the both of you from - getting too scared, by anything..."  
  
Yuri interjected, only to be met by a snort.  
  
"Tsch, like you wouldn't squeal in terror the moment some shadow jumped at you!"  
  
"Are you sure about that? I mean, I do get... _So_ frightened, easily..."  
  
Sighing from behind a mop of dark hair, he tried to place himself between them.  
  
"Both of you, cut it out. Now I have to go, to prevent Sayori from being scared by the two of you, or - like, a wild bear. Y'think there are wild bears, out here..."  
  
Sayori wanted to sniffle, even though it was an absolutely silly plan, for an absolutely pointless story, with absolutely no chance of payoff.  
The reason she'd wanted to do it was pointless, too; so that even if there'd been no point to the story Monika told, it wouldn't have been pointless.  
  
Someone would've cared.  
  
Dabbing at her eyes, Sayori managed a wide smile - and four heads knit together, planning for a midnight excursion that would - in all likelihood - go nowhere.

* * *

Why were summer evenings _cold?_  
  
Oh, there was all sorts of lovely upsides to the night in summer; all the stars were out and bright, high in the sky.  
A glittering armada of friends with names from a hundred different languages.  
  
But, the scarf she'd thrown on kept kind of trying to obscure her smile, and even though this was _admittedly_ silly, she was excited.  
  
Not for what they'd _find,_ because of course they wouldn't find _anything._  
And yet, having instantly had the support of her friends...  
  
If only Monika had stuck around. It would've been - nice, really, to have her along, _too._  
  
He - her #1 pal had dressed up in so much warm weather gear that he looked like a pillow!  
And she wanted to push him around until he became a snowball, but it was summer, so - that wasn't happening.  
The idea did make her laugh, though, and he could tell she was laughing, and scowled through a super-huge feather down coat that he'd probably got on consignment.  
  
Natsuki _bounced_ towards them, wearing multiple layers of shirts instead of a jacket.  
Hmn, their team might not entirely have this under wraps...  
  
"Yo, wow, those are some - great infiltration clothes, guys. H, hahaha, you both look _ridiculous!_ Oh, I wanna take a picture, Yuri's gotta see this..."  
  
"She isn't with you?"  
  
Here's a funny thing.  
Your heart can get all scrunched up, too. Just like your head.  
And Sayori - frowned, they all frowned, because _just_ like they'd gotten excited to do something so silly, it suddenly sunk in.  
  
That cold summer night.  
A creepy, abandoned basement... Tunnel... Bomb, shelter, place...  
Oh, and what if Yuri -  
  
"Pssst. Please look a bit carefully..."  
  
Said a whispery contralto that came from nowhere and everywhere.  
Her pal made a disgusted grumble, but if it sounded a bit relieved, ehehe, that was pretty nice, too.  
  
"Yuri? Come on out, geeze! I was - these two were scared, y'know?!"  
  
"Hmhmhn... Is that so... Maybe I'm hiding..."  
  
Actually, Sayori redacted that.  
Now she was getting a little angry, too. Just a little, though!  
  
"Where - _oh..."  
  
_ Okay. _Okay!_ Okay, ermn.  
  
Right along the edges of the courtyard, there were a bunch of big shrubs and hedges that she didn't really know the names of. They were pretty, and birds and insects lived in them.  
Sometimes, they were at their prettiest when they lost all their leaves in winter, and nothing lived in them at all.  
But it was summer, right now. And even in summer, she didn't recall any plant biology lesson that had suggested _Yuris' lived in shrubberies._  
  
Yuri rolled out with a quiet 'hupf' that sounded like a wheeze. Had she gotten exhausted from such a simple gesture...  
And, er...  
  
She was wearing eyeblack, and very majestic surplus wannabe sdf camo.  
  
Unable to help herself, Sayori _burst_ into laughter. She laughed until tears rolled down her face, laughed until she wanted to fall over, laughed until she almost felt a bit embarrassed about it!  
Yuri just 'humphed and crossed her arms, but didn't seem too affected by any of it.  
  
"I... I told you, you know, that one night. That I... Hunting..."  
  
"You look like a moron, a real gun otaku! Oh, wow, now I need a picture of you to show Yuri... What've you done with her?"  
  
"Stop making fun of me, you... You, you, _you_..."  
  
"Mmn, you two - can we not fight right now? My mom'll kill me if I come back home and explain that I just spent the entire night breaking into school in the company of three girls, because we needed to find a spooky hidden basement that none of us actually believes in - and we burst into a dumb ol' fight before we did."  
  
He paused, sighing.  
  
"She'd say something about 'gumption' and 'drive.' And I can't deal with that, right now."  
  
Natsuki wandered over, stood on her tiptoes, and gave his shoulder a pat.  
  
"That sounds _so_ rough. You've got _all_ of my sympathy, bud. Okay, so, Sayori. You're clearly the brains, here. What are we doing?"  
  
And they divvied themselves up. Yuri had brought several walkie-talkies, and clip-on flashlights; from her perfect hiding place (behind a building, not disguised as a plant), she would provide intel.  
Her friend would patrol and secure the area, just in case there really was a night watchman (there wasn't! Sayori had _seen_ all the finance forms and budget cuts! they could barely afford hot lunches, these days).  
Natsuki would run between teams, and constantly survey the area.  
  
Sayori had given herself the most important task...  
Excavating the hidden dungeon!  
  
Between the four of them, they'd decided that _clearly_ the only place for a hidden basement was in the storage shed where all the tools were.  
Like all storage sheds, it was never locked, home to all sorts of insects, and smelled a little like varnish.  
Also, ehehe... It just so happened that as a sorta-dutiful student and veep, she had keys! (Once again, fully aware that it was never locked.)  
  
Creeping towards it, her heart beating a mile a minute, Sayori wondered what story she'd spin to Monika as she poked the door a little, listening to the sway as it bent forward in protest.  
  
That was when she noticed it - a trail of footprints going back and forth, in place.  
And they went in, fading but still present in dust.  
Stopping at a small grate in the floor - left slightly ajar.  
  
Her mouth pursed in a perfect 'o' as Sayori wondered, for the first time, if the mystery was... Just maybe...

* * *

But, of course, it wasn't - _entirely._  
  
The service tunnel beneath the tool shed wasn't cramped or claustrophobic. It'd seen a little use, but only recently.  
It was the sort of thing she always noticed - when people thought she didn't notice anything at all.  
  
How - lonely it seemed.  
  
Dust fled from footprints that traced a hesitant pathway forward, maybe twenty feet.  
Only one pair, at that; stopping at a somewhat new-looking door, made of wood... Not cast-iron.  
  
Sayori's feet took her forward, hesitantly - but unafraid.  
Her fingers paused against hardwood, warning her that maybe there was nothing inside to be afraid of, but -  
That little electric chill, right before rain hit, or she fell in a puddle, or - or things, sometimes...  
  
Ignoring it, she opened the door and poked her head into a wide concrete room, featureless and empty.  
  
Save for a single woman, sitting on an old and worn-out wooden chair, and staring vacantly at the wall.  
...  
  
Monika stared at her, suddenly, and she stared at Monika; and then Monika leapt into the air and absolutely _howled like a banshee,_ before falling flat on her butt.  
  
"SsssaaaaaYoooooori?! Ow, ow... What are you even _doing_ here?"  
  
"Uh, saving you from the... Zombie..."  
  
"There aren't any zombies down here, Sayori. And it was a ghoul, in the first place."  
  
"Oh, but I don't think you're jealous. I admire you a _bit_ too much to think that!"  
  
Sayori smiled (a little embarrassed), and moved over to help Monika to her feet.  
Monika took her hand freely, and rose up to her feet. Despite everything, she looked a little - small, and exhausted.  
  
"Long day hiding in the bomb shelter, pres?"  
  
"... Hah"  
  
Pausing, Monika's fingers rambled wildly through burnished brown hair. And with nobody else around, it felt as if it were fine to just watch - something secret.  
A little vulnerability, shared between...  
Between _friends._  
  
"Ehehe, so, if not that... Did you have some plan of fixing this place up? Becoming a second lit club?"  
  
"Not entirely. I mean, that does sound nice!~"  
  
The way a tone fades at the edges as fingers flee from brown locks to grey concrete...  
Perhaps there's a poem there, as well.  
And her thoughts fading, Sayori stares as Monika's green eyes, so heavy with thought, cut back through the blurry darkness towards her.  
  
"I guess I - I requested a place I could get away and think, alone. On my own, for a bit."  
  
"Don't you have the music room - "  
  
"Not always, no. And, I mean! I don't like monopolising things. Some of the time, at least... But, it gets pretty tiring, being the person people get used to."  
  
"Hey, Monika..."  
  
 _If this is a bit too much, feel free to stop.  
'Cause I do understand!  
And I never ever want to..._  
  
"Sometimes I feel like you're the best of all of us. Like you can do everything I do, but just a lil' better!"  
  
"Only a 'lil'?~"  
  
Having gotten used to the intrusion, a flicker of that spark - that playful defiance, that warm part of Monika that's a little like a star, itself.  
Sayori's quiet laughter pushed itself aside, pressing onwards before she could forget.  
  
"But everyone needs a place to be themselves. I'm gonna go back up, and tell everyone that all I found was an old vending machine, _allllllll_ busted up!"  
  
"Really... That's kinda boring, though. I feel bad that you stumbled upon something like this and are going to go lie for lil' old me."  
  
"Flowers bloom in all sorts of weird places. I just never thought you'd be the type to bloom in a grey basement!"  
  
"... Sayori."  
  
Monika paused, and it was the kind of pause you could _hear,_ audible and sharp and crisp as summer had been hot.  
Pausing half-twirled towards the door, Sayori stared back, hoping that her eyes weren't too bright, her hair wasn't too messy, and that she didn't - seem, too...  
  
"If you had access to an entire little room like this, what would you do with it?"  
  
"Are you asking me? Ehehe, I mean, you're probably better at figuring out what you want - "  
  
"Well, I'm asking you. It's something only you can do, something only you can help me with."  
  
"..."  
  
Sayori stared at it; this seemingly unremarkable root cellar that a very tired club president had turned into a refuge.  
That was strange, and - sad. It made _her_ sad, not because it was strange, but because it was just another part of Monika that she could see all tied up at the edges, but couldn't quite solve.  
Like a puzzle, like a maze without an endpoint.  
  
And she looked at the grey walls, and the hints of algae, and the single sad little chair.  
And she thought, and she thought, and she thought, her hand clutched into a ball and held to her chin.  
  
"First, I'd paint all the walls - "  
  
"You can't see them, I take it. I actually painted them all sorts of colours. The green is _especially_ striking, next to the blue."  
  
Monika's attempt at humour fell flat, and Sayori decided to ignore it, even if that felt a bit rude.  
  
"Well, okay, maybe you did. Ehehe, I could be colourblind. It doesn't matter though. Just throwing paint on a wall doesn't make it feel like - like home. I'd make a bunch of fluffy clouds, and add some pastel colours. A mobile and strings of light and - "  
  
Before too long, Sayori knew she'd shut her eyes.  
The world around her faded, and she imagined Monika might able to imagine it, too.  
  
Like walking on tufty clouds above an endless sea, in light teals and blue, with tiny boats drifting upon the foam.  
Where the soft yellow sun was always bright and hopeful, and always ready to listen to a friend.  
  
Monika strode through the sky towards her, and whistled.  
  
"Okay, that's not a bad idea. _See,_ I guess I don't do _everything_ better than you, now, do I?"  
  
"Hmn. If you feel that way... I also think even if I was retreating to a nice place like this, I'd get lonely."  
  
"Maybe I would, too. A little secret; sometimes I just start new things to run away from old ones; and sometimes, I want to be found."  
  
"Hoh-hoh... Really..."  
  
Risking opening her eyes, Sayori was welcomed back to the cold concrete reality of the tiny little root cellar.  
Monika was - right next to her, leaning forward and smiling.  
A bit softly - a bit...  
  
 _Embarrassed?_  
  
"Oh, oooooh, I saw something _magical -_ " _  
  
_Sayori whispered, her eyes sparkling, and Monika made a soundless noise, quickly shutting her eyes and trying to look away.  
A rosy blush betrayed her betrayal however, and Sayori kinda wanted to say it was okay, that people just sometimes felt that way.  
Instead, she said nothing, and smiled as wide as she could.  
  
" - but I feel like it can be a secret, too. Ehehe, you wanna go surprise the others?"  
  
"Are they _here?_ "  
  
The surprise on Monika's face was a reward, too.  
So, she tried to record it. Into a hidden diary she carried with her always, one that's part of her as much as anything else.  
A record of all the little moments even a girl who trips up over her own words and loses track of time can find the hidden beauty in others, maybe hidden even to them.  
  
Oh, and that's what it is; beauty.  
  
Because it's so rare for her to let her guard down.  
To stop, lost in thought, and look as if she doesn't know what to do or say; face framed by strands of hair that fell free from a prison of white.  
  
It's her secret memory in a secret garden, and Sayori knew that she cherished it almost as much as the _utter shock_ of her amazing friends as she radioed in, voice husky, and announced that she's found a hidden princess, locked up in a dungeon, deep beneath the earth!..

* * *

Her daydreams play at the back of her mind; victims of another blisteringly hot summer day, the kind that makes even sleeping impossible.  
  
As it turned out, the root cellar wasn't Monika's hidden garden, a more physical kind of retreat than the one Sayori's carried with her.  
The hydroponics club was scouting a new place, and Monika had dutifully offered to help, because - of course she had, of course.  
She's known by everyone, capable of everything, and always the first to offer a smile and support.  
  
... But in the moment, it was.  
  
Shifting from leg to leg and resting the side of her head against her desk, Sayori's wondering draws itself out in a sigh, escaping from parched lips.  
Even really lukewarm drinks'd be better than this -  
  
"Chin up, veep! I'm sure they'll show up, eventually!~ In the mean time, I brought you something incredibly refreshing!"  
  
"Thankee,"  
  
Even as the words escape her lips, the cold canned coffee is an absolute _treat_ , even if she's not a huge fan of cold canned anything, most of the time.  
Some of her sleepiness and all of the summer malaise seems to wash away, leaving only her; the strange, kinda lonely girl, looking down at her.  
  
"D'you wanna sleep a bit, too, Monika?"  
  
For a minute, her face is a war of emotion.  
Like she wants to suggest that she absolutely doesn't, that it'd be wrong for the president of a club to do something when her dear wards are counting on her - any of a number of things, really.  
But...  
  
Silently, Monika pulls up a spare chair, and rests her head down against the same desk.  
There's nothing especially deep about the moment; it's a sweltering day, in the middle of summer, much like any other.  
  
And yet she can see right into Monika's eyes, before they draw shut.  
That peaceful green, like vines overgrown over a familiar building, welcoming you home.  
For a second, they're very close.  
  
Even if summer never really ends, in the moment, Sayori feels certain she's just fine with that -  
Before drifting off into a deep, and pleasant dream.

**Author's Note:**

> Goomgoomboom is an absolute charm, and needs more followers. Please go commit your soul to goomgoomboom by [reading this,](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22835191) if you please.
> 
> I don't know if I'd call this a companion piece to the sun is just a copper coin. That story is (better and) a perfect character study that I can't praise enough. It's fantastic.   
> But I wanted to explore a similar facet of a very complex little relationship.
> 
> Also, I wanted to write the cast having a fun and vaguely goonies adventure. None of them really prepare properly at all, or really seem to consider the implications of sneaking onto their own school at night? Uh, that bit might be based a bit on experience...
> 
> Several times, I changed the tense. Normally that's just me being a sloppy writer, but... There's a few ways it might influence this story. Hopefully it's interesting, as is the story in general.


End file.
